Pages

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

How Did Your Grandparents Meet?

Show and Tell was the program at our DAR meeting for this month. I picked out my great-grandparents marriage certificate from 1875 and also two sets of picture - one about the time they got married and one much later in years.

Alvin and Amy about the time of marriage, 1875

I had wondered how on earth they could have met. Alvin lived in Bradford Co., Pa. (East Smithfield) and Amy was from Hector, Schuyler Co., NY. In the 1800's that's quite a distance. There must have been something that stands out from ordinary life that would bring them together.

This is a good example of paying attention to documents and papers when you do your research. Be sure you don't get so zeroed in on your personal ancestor you are researching. Be sure and look at what you find before and after on those documents.

That is what paid off for me. I had been researching for a few years - enough that I was familiar with Amy's parent's relative. Her mother was a Kingsley and "lo and behold" - Caleb (Alvin's father, and Mary, his mother) had some Kingleys for neighbors, her relatives! Well, 'dontcha' know that when Momma went to Pa. to visit family, the kids were out getting acquainted with the neighbor's kids!

(Amy and Alvin in later years, closeups of pics in certificate.)

In this instance it sparked a romance. Oddly enough Amy went to Pennsylvania to have her wedding, even, instead of back home. (Now I haven't figured out that one as to why, as I had never thought of it before till just now writing this post. Guess I better get back to digging.)